States Line Up for Florida High-Speed Rail Money

[thelakelander]

I guess that $2.4 billion won't be going to Florida ports, roads or into a federal savings account.

This week marked the deadline to apply for the $2.4 billion in federal high-speed rail funding refused by Florida. Opponents of fast trains have used the cases of Florida, Wisconsin, and Ohio to argue that Americans are not interested in high-speed rail spending. The long line of those who want part of Florida’s share suggests precisely the opposite. The applicants include (in no particular order):

» Maryland, which wants nearly $300 million to upgrade the rail station at BWI airport, and another $116 million for a trio of bridge studies;
» Washington (state), which wants $120 million to improve Amtrak Cascades service between Portland and Vancouver;
» Connecticut, which wants $227 million for its New Haven to Springfield, Mass., high-speed line;
» New York, which wants $517 million to spread across eight projects, including a congestion bypass that would aid Northeast Corridor trains;
» North Carolina, which wants $624 million to improve, among other things, its Charlotte-Raleigh route (even as officials consider returning the federal rail grants already received by the state);
» Massachusetts, which wants nearly $100 million for service improvements between Boston and Portland, Maine;
» Missouri, which does its best Justin Timberlake in requesting a cool $1 billion to upgrade the St. Louis-Kansas City corridor, among several projects;
» and Rhode Island, which wants a comparatively cute $31 million for three rail proposals.

Other contenders, according to the “Florida redirected funds homepage” being maintained at HSR Updates, include Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and even Texas. All told, 90 applications were received from 24 states, the District of Columbia, and Amtrak, with requests nearing $10 billion, the Department of Transportation announced this morning.

The favorite is California, which has asked for the entire $2.43 billion pot. The money would enable the state to extend the initial segment of its Los Angeles-San Francisco line, in the Central Valley. While the state won’t get all the money, the request is not entirely unfounded. The death of the Tampa-Orlando line sets up California’s corridor to be the country’s high-speed rail model; the more money the Department of Transportation sends there, the quicker it will have a demonstration track.

The other leading candidate is Amtrak. Ray LaHood recently designated the Northeast Corridor as a high-speed corridor, a move that paved the way for Amtrak to request of Florida’s money, and the national rail provider did not disappoint, requesting $1.3 billion (pdf). Part of the money would go toward increasing the speed of trains between New York and Philadelphia; another part would fund the Gateway Project, Amtrak’s recently proposed $13.5 billion tunnel between New York and New Jersey.

By far the most intriguing â€" and, in many ways, confusing â€" applicant for Florida’s abandoned money is Wisconsin, which of course abandoned $810 million of its own high-speed funding when it elected Scott “no train” Walker as governor. Now Walker and company are asking for about $150 million for the Hiawatha line, which runs from Milwaukee to Chicago. At least $12 million of the requested funds were part of the grant rejected by the state. While some officials call the shift “hypocrisy,” Walker himself does not, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Asked about the apparent reversal in his position on rail initiatives, Walker said he always had supported improvements to the Hiawatha. It’s a popular and established service, without the local opposition that complicated the Milwaukee-to-Madison link he campaigned against.

“This is not inconsistent with the position I took in the past,” he said.

I’m guessing LaHood and his high-speed application committee might not agree.

http://www.infrastructurist.com/2011/04/06/states-line-up-for-florida-high-speed-rail-money-%E2%80%94%C2%A0including-wisconsin/

[FayeforCure]

Wow. lake.  Didnt see that coming.

What jackasses thought that the HSR money was going to get spent on the ports?

Gee, all that wishful thinking didn't pan out after all. Who'd have thunk?

[mtraininjax]

Spend, spend, spend, that is all we can do these days, spend, spend, spend. It is insane!!!

[JeffreyS]

Your so right our governor wants to spend over 100mil not to be able to put this infrastructure in place.

[mtraininjax]

Your so right our governor wants to spend over 100mil not to be able to put this infrastructure in place.

What's 2.7 billion when you have a 3.8 billion hole to fill? Can't please everyone, so you gotta please yourself.

[FayeforCure]

Your so right our governor wants to spend over 100mil not to be able to put this infrastructure in place.

What's 2.7 billion when you have a 3.8 billion hole to fill? Can't please everyone, so you gotta please yourself.

Penny wise and pound foolish. The 2.7 billion is coming from the federal government, it doesn't impact the 3.8 billion hole in the Florida budget, except to maybe DECREASE it some through all the taxes these new workers will be paying, because now they have money to spend:

Thy will be paying: federal income tax, federal payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare, and excise taxes on gasoline, aviation, alcohol and cigarettes. Many also pay state or local taxes on sales, and property.

[tufsu1]

Your so right our governor wants to spend over 100mil not to be able to put this infrastructure in place.

What's 2.7 billion when you have a 3.8 billion hole to fill? Can't please everyone, so you gotta please yourself.

well the $2.7B would have created jobs in FL...and those fiolks would have then spent moeny, increasing sales tax and other receipts...so maybe the $3.8B revenue shortfall would have decreased!

[spuwho]

The Hiawatha between Milwaukee and Chicago is a highly used train, even though it runs parallel to the Metra North as far as Kenosha, it still garners high usage.

I think what people overlook on Scott Walker and his "hypocrisy" is that he is willing to take fed rail funds, but he takes the time to look at the strings attached. HSR out to Madison was not the slam dunk everyone was making it out to be. Easy to rip him for refusing certain rail grants, but perhaps we should look at some of the legislative strings attached to the grants before making judgment.

What California has going for them is that they could care less what the strings attached are since the political winds blow hot and cold so often. They know if they take the cash now, politics can easily allow them to amend or better yet cut those strings completely through legislative acts in the future.

Different states, different approaches.

[Ocklawaha]

Besides Wisconsin, the other states that have applied for funds are California, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Washington.

In case anyone is still crying over the demise of the nations worst railroad proposal since the Carson and Colorado (*note) pay close attention to the states in bold red above. In the event you failed geography, these are the missing pieces of SOUTHEAST HIGH SPEED RAIL. One of the 3 main Georgia projects is to wipe out crossings on the CSX line (you'll recall that's the railroad that will NEVER allow HSR on their tracks) between, yeah, you got it... JACKSONVILLE and ATLANTA! More? Both NC and SC are looking at improvements to the CSX mainline that currently runs from Jacksonville-Savannah-Columbia-Raleigh-Richmond-Washington. NC and SC have made some lines on a map that call for trains between Charlotte and Columbia, a line that hasn't seen a passenger train since at least as long ago as the Florida East Coast. Putting a pen to a map you might note that this line which Jacksonville should be raising hell about, is about as straight south from Charlotte-Jacksonville as it gets.

Here in Metrolina, Columbia, SC city leaders are travelling to Charlotte on Monday to investigate how a Charlotte-Columbia inter-urban rail project could add the South Carolina Midlands to the regions benefiting by the larger planned rail corridor connecting Washington, Richmond, Raleigh, Charlotte, Greenville, and Atlanta.  There's clearly no economic advantage to that.  At long last, perhaps, there will be access to both Columbia and Charlotte from Rock Hill, SC, which today has not even so much as a Greyhound bus stop.

SC DOT is studying the broader possibility of establishing a commuter rail system within the state, connecting the metro areas of Charleston, Columbia, and of course SC's world-famous Grand Strand, with Charlotte, NC and Greenville-Spartanburg, already included in the broader regional Southeast High-Speed Rail Corridor plan.  Opponents (mostly the rental car industry) say that such a system would not enjoy sufficient ridership.  There's no model for that anywhere in the world, by the way, and here in Metrolina, the CATS system has been so popular in its initial development that suburban areas throughout the region are fighting over "next."

The Columbia, SC, Amtrak station, reports the National Association of Railroad Passengers, enjoyed a 12% annual increase in ridership in 2008, the last year for which figures are available.
SOURCE: http://www.examiner.com/political-buzz-in-charlotte/midlands-leaders-see-benefit-columbia-charlotte-rail-line-unlike-fl-s-scott

*NOTE:

Trust Me, this photo of Keeler, California (garden spot of the world) would look the same even in color! This is more or less how the I-4 Plan For Florida HSR would look in 20 years.



*NOTE: History buffs might want to know the Carson and Colorado was built from near Carson City, Nevada over Montgomery Pass south to Laws, California, just above Death Valley. The line pierced some of the most desolate country in North America and managed to miss every town in between its terminals. Narrow Gauge, it was said to have been built "Either 300 miles too long or 300 years too soon."

OCKLAWAHA

[cityimrov]

Besides Wisconsin, the other states that have applied for funds are California, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Washington.

In case anyone is still crying over the demise of the nations worst railroad proposal since the Carson and Colorado (*note) pay close attention to the states in bold red above. In the event you failed geography, these are the missing pieces of SOUTHEAST HIGH SPEED RAIL. One of the 3 main Georgia projects is to wipe out crossings on the CSX line (you'll recall that's the railroad that will NEVER allow HSR on their tracks) between, yeah, you got it... JACKSONVILLE and ATLANTA! More? Both NC and SC are looking at improvements to the CSX mainline that currently runs from Jacksonville-Savannah-Columbia-Raleigh-Richmond-Washington. NC and SC have made some lines on a map that call for trains between Charlotte and Columbia, a line that hasn't seen a passenger train since at least as long ago as the Florida East Coast. Putting a pen to a map you might note that this line which Jacksonville should be raising hell about, is about as straight south from Charlotte-Jacksonville as it gets.

Here in Metrolina, Columbia, SC city leaders are travelling to Charlotte on Monday to investigate how a Charlotte-Columbia inter-urban rail project could add the South Carolina Midlands to the regions benefiting by the larger planned rail corridor connecting Washington, Richmond, Raleigh, Charlotte, Greenville, and Atlanta.  There's clearly no economic advantage to that.  At long last, perhaps, there will be access to both Columbia and Charlotte from Rock Hill, SC, which today has not even so much as a Greyhound bus stop.

SC DOT is studying the broader possibility of establishing a commuter rail system within the state, connecting the metro areas of Charleston, Columbia, and of course SC's world-famous Grand Strand, with Charlotte, NC and Greenville-Spartanburg, already included in the broader regional Southeast High-Speed Rail Corridor plan.  Opponents (mostly the rental car industry) say that such a system would not enjoy sufficient ridership.  There's no model for that anywhere in the world, by the way, and here in Metrolina, the CATS system has been so popular in its initial development that suburban areas throughout the region are fighting over "next."

The Columbia, SC, Amtrak station, reports the National Association of Railroad Passengers, enjoyed a 12% annual increase in ridership in 2008, the last year for which figures are available.
SOURCE: http://www.examiner.com/political-buzz-in-charlotte/midlands-leaders-see-benefit-columbia-charlotte-rail-line-unlike-fl-s-scott

*NOTE:

Trust Me, this photo of Keeler, California (garden spot of the world) would look the same even in color! This is more or less how the I-4 Plan For Florida HSR would look in 20 years.



*NOTE: History buffs might want to know the Carson and Colorado was built from near Carson City, Nevada over Montgomery Pass south to Laws, California, just above Death Valley. The line pierced some of the most desolate country in North America and managed to miss every town in between its terminals. Narrow Gauge, it was said to have been built "Either 300 miles too long or 300 years too soon."

OCKLAWAHA

So Jacksonville, by helping vote for Rick Scott managed to take money away from Central Florida and thus allowing Georgia to take on the liability and to getting that state to pay for the rail system maintenance that will benefit Jacksonville FL causing our little city to bloom at the expense of the rest of both Florida and Georgia! 

This could be a beginnings of a good Machiavelli novel if that really what happens.  Trickery, Manipulation, Greed, and Selfishness if not what others consider - Evil.  That story will be one for the historians to laugh at! 

[thelakelander]

I'll be surprised if anything significant happens.  That $2.7 billion is going to be piecemealed to the point that nothing big actually happens outside of the states with shovel ready plans.

[Garden guy]

I'll be surprised if anything significant happens.  That $2.7 billion is going to be piecemealed to the point that nothing big actually happens outside of the states with shovel ready plans.

I think our governor will probably steal a bunch of that 2 billion..he's stole before so we must keep our eye on him...he should be in jail...but the republicans of this state apparently love a good thief.

[tufsu1]

Ock...you do know that the ongoing GDOT study will be recommending one route by the end of 2011 right? 

I expect the route to go from Atlanta to Macon via I75, Macon to Savannah via I-16, and then down to Jacksonville via I-95.

[FayeforCure]

I'll be surprised if anything significant happens.  That $2.7 billion is going to be piecemealed to the point that nothing big actually happens outside of the states with shovel ready plans.

I vote for having it ALL go to CA!!

Lets get that true HSR going fast!!

[FayeforCure]

Ock...you do know that the ongoing GDOT study will be recommending one route by the end of 2011 right?  

I expect the route to go from Atlanta to Macon via I75, Macon to Savannah via I-16, and then down to Jacksonville via I-95.

It's a miracle they have Marta. Georgia is as conservative as they get. Florida is now as conservative as Georgia, at least the leadership in Florida is.

And the voters keep taking the bait, that "poster child" image of the welfare queen has done wonders for the Republican party. Symbolism over reality, penny wise and pound foolish, except when it comes to the real heisting in the US. Oh well. shrugs shoulders. Hey Florida even has THE posterboy of the REAL heist: our governor Rick Scott running this state. Brace yourselve for more BIG Time stealing